Date: Oct 2, 2012 8:31 PM
Author: GS Chandy
Subject: Re: US teachers are overworked and underpaid
Wayne Bishop posted Oct 2, 2012 10:19 PM (GSC's response follows):>> That 800 pound gorilla, in this case, is teacher> preparation and the > public school environment. Genuine, consistent> academic preparation > after competitive and quality selection of> prospective professional > education personnel without a plethora of really> worthless education > courses working in a school environment where such is> respected by > students, parents, and administrators and the> industry would get much > more respect and this would be reflected in tangible> ways as > well. Ain't gonna happen.> > Wayne>You may well be right that the "800 pound gorilla" (right here in the cage with us) is "teacher preparation and the public school environment". Certainly these are two very significant factors for the lack of effective education and the lack of progress (in the Indian education system - and that may well be the case, as you claim it is, in the US education system as well).

[There are other factors operating here as well, but let's leave those aside for the moment].

So why is it that you (in the US, along with your cohorts and consorts) so very positively refuse even to look at very practical tools that could enable 'the system' to surmount those very factors? I refer to tools such as referred to in the attachments to my post at the thread "On realistic and practical tools for the US education system... " - http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2405705.

Why is it that you so consistently shout out entirely infeasible demands such as: "BLOW UP THE SCHOOLS OF EDUCATION!" and "PUT THE EDUCATION MAFIA IN JAIL!" instead of looking objectively at things that can be done right today? Why not, while demanding that Teacher Unions stop unrealistic demands, also shout out that those leaders in the banking industry who drove whole sectors of the economy into ruin should also be put into jail? Why not tackle 'system problems' systemically (which is the only way they can realistically be tackled)?

(Just asking, because I observe that the guardians of the status quo here in India display almost the very same attitudes that you in the US display [along with your cohorts and consorts] - the only difference is the context, as Kirby might observe).